Restaurants

From rustic fine dining to colourful ceilings designed to “stimulate the appetite”, here are six top examples of interior design for restaurants from California.

Loqui in Downtown Los Angeles, California, by Wick Architecture & Design
Los Angeles studio Wick Architecture & Design looked to materials more commonly found on construction sites when designing Loqui, the second location of a “mom and pop” taqueria in Downtown Los Angeles.

Concrete floors and exposed pipes from the renovation have been left in situ while walls and surfaces are clad with terracotta brick and olive-pained stucco. Tables, chairs and benches are made of stained oak and the facade is made of patinated steel.
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Madison in San Diego, California, by Archisects
California studio Archisects designed bright-blue alcoves and cedar-clad walls and ceilings for Madison, a restaurant and cocktail bar built in a former nightclub in San Diego’s University Heights neighbourhood.
The designers used wood and geometric shapes to create a warm and welcoming space, with nautical light fixtures that nod to the city’s coastal location.
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Bavel in Los Angeles Arts District, California, by Studio Unltd
Los Angeles-based Studio Unltd turned a former warehouse in the Los Angeles Arts District into a Middle Eastern restaurant called Bavel (pictured top and above).
Plants trail down whitewashed walls and banquettes are upholstered with geometric-patterned fabric. The bar area draws inspiration from Casablanca, Morocco, with pink metal seats and gold-and-turquoise shelves set in arched niches.
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Auburn on Los Angeles’ Melrose Avenue, California, by Klein Agency
Jon and Maša Kleinhample, a husband-and-wife design team from Belgium, wanted to create a homey aesthetic for Auburn, a fine-dining restaurant on Melrose Avenue.
The kitchen is open to the dining area and crockery is stored in open-faced cupboards. Rustic ceiling beams project from the inside through to an outdoor dining area where a tree grows through a hole cut into the roof.
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Gucci Osteria da Massimo Bottura in Beverly Hills, California, by Gucci
The Gucci store in Beverly Hills has its own Italian restaurant on the top floor. The intimate 50-cover eatery is designed to look like the fashion house’s restaurant in Florence, with a marble entrance and tapestry rugs spread over wooden parquet flooring.
An outdoor terrace has a mosaic floor patterned with stars and a retractable awning that is supported by steel beams painted jade green.
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The Salted Pig in Riverside, California, by Project M Plus
Project M Plus, a Los Angeles-based collective of architects and designers, used a palette of warm tones to “stimulate the appetite and the senses” for this restaurant in Riverside.
The ceiling and exposed ducts are brick red, with sage-green accents in the dining space below. Banquettes upholstered in leather are wrapped in wooden louvres and illuminated with domed copper lights.
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